White Halo Ensemble

Funding source:

School Ensemble

White Halo Ensemble is a high-profile chamber ensemble, celebrating the importance of chamber music to arts culture and music education. Building on the School's existing performance staff, as well as recruiting new performers from Melbourne, Sydney and Los Angeles, White Halo takes its name from the halo effect that forms behind supersonic jets as they break the sound barrier. Under the guise of a traditional piano quartet, the group seeks to break barriers and explore new terrain within the art of chamber music.

The ensemble’s mission aligns with that of the University, seeking to "positively influence society by engaging in the pursuit of excellence through the creation, preservation, transfer and application of knowledge" in the field of Chamber Music. One of the underlying aims of White Halo is to form the core of a national hub for chamber music leadership, teaching, and research. As part of the School 's research group, the Creative Collaboratorium, the ensemble undertakes performance-based research in innovative performance and music research activities. The group has begun to expand its collaborative model, with UQ as the base for a chamber music network - building on its existing relationships with groups such as Southern Cross Soloists, the Tinalley String Quartet, and Topology. The term 'piano quartet' was deliberately omitted from White Halo's name to allow the possibility of flexibility, expansion, or contraction in different directions and combinations for different projects and collaborations.

One of the most significant aspects of White Halo's mission is the commissioning of new chamber music from a diverse range of composers, including both established and emerging Australian and overseas composers. White Halo has already commissioned composersAndrew Ford, Matthew Hindson, Gordon Hamilton, Paul Dean and James Ledger.

Plans for 2016 include the release of White Halo's first CD; regional, national and international touring presenting innovative chamber music performance research; and leading masterclasses in Chamber Music practice.